Browns partner with Parking Panda, connect fans with spots

If your Cleveland Browns game-day tradition doesn't include traveling downtown at the crack of dawn to get set up for a party in the Muni Lot, the team and a relatively new Baltimore company believe they have an alternative.

The Browns have partnered with Parking Panda, which created a free mobile app that helps drivers reserve a parking spot days, or weeks, ahead of time. The app is pretty simple even for those who aren't technically inclined. A registered user types in a destination and date, then is able to search, compare prices and reserve a spot with a credit card. “We come to a city, find great partners, and they give us a dedicated number of spaces,” said Bryan Lozano, a partner account manager at Parking Panda. “It's all real time. If we get 100 spaces and those 100 are full, the app will show that it's sold out.” The partnership started with the Browns' second home game of the season, Sept. 21 against the Baltimore Ravens. The team has a link to Parking Panda's service from its website, as well as the online home of FirstEnergy Stadium. Parking Panda, which launched in 2011, has partnered with operators of 23 downtown garages and lots, all of which are within a mile of the stadium. Parking Panda gets a percentage-based commission from the parking operators, and the Browns get a cut of that revenue. “It's really inconsequential,” Browns communications coordinator Rob McBurnett said of the money the team receives from each transaction. “That's not the reason we're doing it.” Instead, McBurnett said, the Browns are trying to make parking “as convenient as possible” for fans. Lozano said Parking Panda doesn't disclose the commission it receives from the parking companies. Customers who use the service generally pay rates that are similar to or slightly higher than the garages' non-reserved rates. As of Thursday afternoon, Oct. 2, Parking Panda's website listed starting prices of $16 for parking at each of the Browns' six remaining home games. For the matchup against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Oct. 21, 10 of the 23 lots and garages that have partnered with the company had spaces available for $16. Prices at the remaining 13 locations ranged from $21 to $81, though all but the Nautica Entertainment Complex were at $41 or lower. The 23 locations reserve a total of about 2,500 spaces for Parking Panda customers, Lozano said. Parking Panda, which also has a New York office, has partnerships with four NFL teams — the Browns, Ravens, Atlanta Falcons and St. Louis Rams. The company established ties with MLB.com prior to the 2014 season, and six Major League Baseball clubs are clients. Parking Panda's only Cleveland business is centered around Browns game days, but Lozano said the company hopes to add daily and monthly parking to the mix. ABM, a New York-based facility management provider with more than 100,000 employees, operates many of the Cleveland lots and garages that have partnered with Parking Panda. Operators at a handful of the garages reached by Crain's said they weren't authorized to speak with the media. Chas Strong, ABM's senior manager of corporate communications, referred all questions to the Browns.Lozano said Parking Panda's technology helps operators determine if their pricing is in line with competitors, and they are willing to pay the company a fee because of the extra traffic the partnership can provide. There is a catch: Because Parking Panda's current relationships with Cleveland lots and garages are only for event parking, customers are asked to arrive after 11 a.m. (two hours before the start of the game) and leave “up to one hour” after the game's conclusion. Parking Panda's technology provides electronic passes, but customers who reserve a spot are told that the Cleveland lots require them to print and display the reservation on their vehicle's dashboard. The city-owned Muni Lot opens much earlier — at 7 a.m. — and has a set fee of $20. If you'd rather sleep in and know you have a space waiting, Parking Panda is now an option. “You don't have to worry about parking — just like your seat,” Lozano said. “It makes the fan experience that much better.”